Individual Action
The four lifestyle choices that most reduce your carbon footprint
Diet- Reduce your household food waste
- Eat more plant based proteins
- Avoid mass produced meats
- Buy local / Grow your own vegetables
- Walk / bike instead of drive
- Avoid flying: Ban air miles and stop frequent flyers to combat climate change, report urges
- Switch to electric powered vehicles
- Take public transit / carpool
- Switch to LED lights at home or office
- Consider retrofitting more house insulation
- Weatherproof windows and doors
- Use Smart Thermostats
- Install outdoor window shading / Decrease your A/C and furnace usage
- Consider installing solar panels
- Invest in clean energy - The 2019 eco-fund ranking
- Information on Carbon Offsets - David Suzuki Foundation
- Gold Standard Carbon Offsets
- Reduce your travel impact with Less Emissions today. https://www.less.ca/en-ca/
- https://www.bullfrogpower.com/
- Reforestation - Plant Trees! https://onetreeplanted.org/ & https://treecanada.ca/
- Avoid plastics and tell companies to change their packaging! More about the creation of plastics and it's tie to oil and gas in this documentary: www.storyofplastic.org
- Buy less stuff! Do you really need it? Including the clothes you buy.
- Compost organic material
- Plant a tree that is hardy to your region. We need more trees to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. It isn't the solution but can help.
- Talk to friends and family about taking action! This can be hard but try out this climate conversation coach that gives good tips on how to talk to people with different views.
- Vote for Climate!
Adaptation
(From Canada.ca): Adaptation means adjusting our decisions, behaviours and activities to account for existing or expected changes in climate. Adaptation measures can be taken either before or after we experience the effects of a changing climate. Examples of adaptation measures include:
- creating tougher building standards for areas where more snow is expected
- limiting development in coastal areas where sea level is expected to rise
- restoring wetlands to reduce flooding
- making changes to protect our health during heat events
By making informed decisions, we can protect ourselves, our families, our communities and our businesses from the impacts of climate change.
More info at https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/climate-change/adapting.html
Suggested Reading
Useful Links
- Top 10 things you can do about climate change
- Are We Really Running Out of Time to Stop Climate Change? Live Science explains the '12 year' timeline to act on reducing emissions.
- WHAT ON EARTH? CBC articles on all things environmental.
- How to help the Amazon rainforest: 9 things you can do during the fires and beyond
- Climate Action Tips from Simcoe/Muskoka Health
- The Story of Stuff
- Humans have made 8.3bn tons of plastic since 1950. This is the illustrated story of where it's gone
- Article on why planting trees can help
- Podcast on the fashion industry and climate impact
- 'How do we save this f--king planet?' A 7-point response is giving people hope and some clear answers